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The New Old
By Roni Robbins

As women´s life expectancy increase, more baby boomers consider long-term care insurance to make life easier later. What works and what policies to avoid.

Dawn MacNab knows it´s only a matter of time and fate before she´ll face old age alone. As a single human resources executive, she doesn´t want to become a burden on family or friends. So last year, at age 55, she invested in her future by taking out a long-term care (LTC) insurance policy.

"Our society is a mobile society. You do not know if your family or friends might be available when you need assistance," says MacNab, owner and principal of Waldron & Company, a $5 million human resources consulting firm in Seattle.

LTC insurance is especially important these days for independent women like MacNab, considering that the vast majority of nursing home residents nationwide are women. While it costs about $56,000 a year to live in a nursing home, widows have an average annual income of about $12,000, according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. That means most nursing home residents will deplete their assets in less than six months.

Pollock and other insurance agents and financial planners urge women to shop around to find the best coverage and rates. The ideal time to buy is in your late 40s to early 50s, when your health is still good, Pollock says.

All policies are not the same, she adds. Choose a well-established LTC carrier with at least an A+ rating and a policy that keeps pace with rising healthcare costs. "You should not look at today or next year´s premiums, but how much premiums will cost in 15 to 20 years," says Elizabeth Clemmer, associate director of AARP´s Public Policy Institute. But there is more help these days in the workplace.

An increasing number of employers are offering the insurance - nearly half of all large companies, according to Mercer Human Resources Consulting in New York. Even the federal government began offering it to its employees two years ago, and Congress also is considering tax incentives to encourage more people to buy the insurance.

But don´t assume just because your company offers a long-term care policy, it´s the best deal for you, Pollock warns. Some insurance carriers will accept anyone who applies and the added health risk means higher rates, fewer benefits and potential rate increases, she says.

"The question is not how long you'll live, but how long you'll need care," Pollock says. She indicates a good policy will help you maintain your lifestyle for 25 years or more while ensuring coverage of your car when costs are much greater.

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